


Tempest Lotus

by BeesKneesandNoodles



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bumbleby (background), Emercury, Gen, Nora is a cozumel fox faunus, Nora is a survivior of faunus trafficking, OC, OC backstory, Other, Renora, Renora Fan Kid, White Rose (background), a friend's emercury kid, does butterfly effect theory count as a fairytale, emercury fankid, im stupid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29852445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeesKneesandNoodles/pseuds/BeesKneesandNoodles
Summary: OC Backstory!!Iris is only 12 years old when Nora Valkyrie finds her in the ruins of a slaver camp she had destroyed.Suddenly, she's swept into a world where she has things she'd never dreamed of- like a family.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Mercury Black/Emerald Sustrai, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Flutter by, Butterfly.

As the storm cleared, Nora let out a long sigh. She looked around her at the ruins of the slaver camp. She hadn’t been able to contain her rage upon seeing them. She hadn’t been able to hold back the storm. And to be perfectly, scarily honest… that was just fine by her. After all she had gone through as a child, she didn’t care what happened to those bastards. She’d already freed everyone else, already gotten them on their way to somewhere safe. She ran a hand through her ginger hair, pacing herself when she heard it.  
Quiet, fearful sobs.  
Memories flashed through her head of hiding under the roots of a tree, covering her mouth with her hands in a desperate attempt to make her sobs stop.  
Nora looked around herself, looking for hiding spots, looking for the source of those heart-aching noises.  
There it was.  
Under the husk of a fallen-over tree.  
A foot just within view.  
The only other sounds were the mud under her boots and the crackling of a burning tent.  
She knelt on the wet earth, pressing a hand to the side of the log.  
“Hello?” She called out.  
The person had gone quiet. Smart.  
“It’s okay. They’re gone now. You’re safe.”  
Nothing.  
“My name is Nora Valkyrie. I’m a survivor of slavers. You can trust me.”  
The girl scooted into view, still out of arm’s reach. She was tiny. Thin arms and legs, ribs poking out from under the dirt, wet bandages.  
“What’s your name?” She asked, her heart breaking in her chest.  
The girl pulled her hands away from her mouth.  
“...Iris…”  
“Hey, Iris. I’m Nora Valkyrie. I’m a huntress.”  
“...you’re… not going to use me as bait, are you?”  
The fear in her voice brought up so many memories.  
“No. Never. I’d never put anyone through that. How old are you?”  
“I’m… twelve winters old…”  
The tension was thick enough to cut. Nora remembered when she was maybe 8, standing perfectly still so a butterfly would land on her.  
Maybe if I keep calm enough, She thought, It’ll work the same. Iris will trust me enough to come to me.  
“Do you want to go somewhere warm, Iris?”  
Iris nodded.  
Nora offered her a hand, staying still as sand.  
Iris’s shackled hands took Nora’s tightly, as though she were scared Nora might disappear if she let go.  
Nora stood and carefully picked Iris up- she felt far too light for a twelve-year-old -and carried her away from the ruins of that horrible place.  
-  
Unwrapping Iris’s bandages had been like a bad trip down memory lane. Infected, torn stumps where some sort of wing should have been- butterfly wings, according to Iris -poorly stitched shut. They were weeping blood and nasty green stuff. This was far more than Nora’s first aid kit could handle, but it’d have to do until they got back to Mistral. Cleaning and draining the wound, Iris hadn’t made a sound. Not a whimper or cry, no matter how much she told the little one it was okay if she wanted to scream and yell. It occurred to Nora, sometime later, that Iris may have been punished for making noises when hurt.  
The fresh clean bandages went on after a long bath. Iris didn’t sleep that night, so neither did Nora. Nora spent that night holding Iris, assuring her all was okay. Would it be?  
-  
The next morning, Nora carried Iris, who was wrapped up in her thick emergency blanket, through the town and its neighboring town to the train station. Bought them both tickets to Mistral and got her to eat an energy bar. Something was better than nothing. The train ride there would be one day and one night long, but that was okay. She had rescued a kid. But what will I do with her when I get home? I can’t just put her in the system, I’ve seen what happens to kids in foster homes. She wondered and reasoned, trying to work out her answer. She settled on calling Ren.  
“Hey, what’s up?”  
“Lie, let me speak to the end before you reply?”  
“Um… sure?”  
“I was walking back from my search and destroy mission and i found a slaver camp. I couldn’t control myself and destroyed the place with a storm. Killed all the slavers. The slaves scrambled, but when it was all over there was one little girl I found hiding in a hollowed-out log and I didn’t know what to do and she reminded me so much of myself so I-”  
“...She’s on the train with you, isn’t she?”  
“Yeah. Her name is Iris, she’s 11. Butterfly faunus, but according to her they took her wings last month. They took her wings, Lie.”  
“Bastards. Bring her home, I doubt they were clean with it. She needs to get hospital treatment first, then we’ll talk about what to do about this.”  
“Yeah, that sounds good. See you tomorrow.”  
“See you. Love you, bye.”  
“Love you.”  
Click.  
Gods, she loved Ren. He always knew just what to say and do.  
She looked to her left, where Iris finally slept bundled in that blanket. Her hair was dusty blonde when it was clean, not the rusty brown it had looked before. She had too many scars for such a little thing.  
Nora wanted to hold her again.


	2. Chapter Two: The girl with the Silver Eyes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris wakes up in the hospital and makes new friends.

When Iris woke up, she was surrounded by machines beeping rhythmically. Her whole body hurt, but in particular, her arm hurt- looking at it, it must be the needle with tubing attacked. What was that called? Whatever. She looked up and around, seeing the sterile white walls and the tall man with a long braid walking in with two cups in his hands. A smile. Iris liked that smile- it was far more friendly than what she was used to. The man set the cups down on a rolling table thing and sat on the edge of her bed.

“My name is Lie Ren. I’m Nora’s husband.” 

Huh. Okay. If he’s married to someone like Miss Valkyrie, he must not be all that bad. “I’m Iris, I-I’m the girl M-Miss Valkyrie found.”

“I know,” He motioned to the chair to his right, where Miss Valkyrie slept, “She was worried about you all night. You’re in a hospital, and the tube in your arm is an IV. It’s giving you medications for the infection in your back.”

He knew what was happening. Good. that would help.

“Why did you guys bring me here?” She asked, shifting around.

“We were worried the men who did this to you hadn’t cared for the wounds correctly- and we were right.”

Iris nodded. A lady in blue clothes entered and injected something into the IV. 

“This will help you sleep, dear. When you wake up, it’ll hurt less.”

She barely had time to mutter out a “thank you” before she was out.

-

Blink, blink.

The room was dimmer, now. Why was that? She looked towards the window looking over Mistral. Oh, it was night. The moon was very pretty, though. She had always loved the night sky. Sounds of shuffling to her left. Miss Valkyrie or Mr. Ren must be awake. Her whole body felt so heavy when she rolled to look at them, but it was worth it. Miss Valkyrie was sitting upright, rubbing her eyes with her palms. Her ginger hair was sticking out at every angle. When she looked up, her blue eyes held a glad smile. “Hey there, sleepyhead.” She muttered, standing and leaning over Iris’s cot. “You need anything? Apple juice, snacks?”

“What’s apple juice taste like?” Iris asked, tilting her head.

Miss Valkyrie looked surprised, then like she understood. “Like a kind of sour candy. Sometimes it tastes sweet, though. You have to wait and see what kind of apple they used.”

Iris nodded along, then asked, “Candy is sweet, right?” 

Miss Valkyrie nodded. “Right on. Some can be sour, too. I like ones that taste like strawberries and raspberries.”

Iris liked strawberries. They were tangy and somewhat sour. Raspberries were a pain to pick, though, and because she was small, she always had to get the raspberries in the pricklier spots. Candies flavored like them must be good, she thought if they used her favorite fruits.

“I’d like some apple juice if it’s not too much trouble.” 

Miss Valkyrie smiled at her, picking up a remote from the side of the bed and hitting a button with a picture of a bell on it. A nurse soon hurried in. “Iris would like some apple juice,” Miss Valkyrie told her, to which she nodded and smiled. When the nurse returned, she had a container of apple juice in her hand, which she opened and handed Iris.

Confused, Iris sipped a little of it.

It tasted… good. Like a sour apple mixed with sweet. Was this what apple candies tasted like, Iris wondered? It must be, that’s what Miss Valkyrie said. She took another few small sips, then before she realized it, she had drunk the whole thing! 

“You must be thirsty, poor thing.” The nurse tutted, “I’ll get you some ice water and more apple juice.” 

“Ice water?” Iris blurted out. The nurse looked utterly confused. 

“Ice water. Water with ice in it?”

“Oh. Only the masters drank that.”

The nurse rose an eyebrow in confusion. Miss Valkyrie grabbed her arm and hurried her outside the door. As it clicked shut, Iris caught the beginning of Miss Valkyrie’s explanation. 

“Iris, she’s not, um, from the best situat…”

That’s when Iris remembered. On the walk through town, Miss Valkyrie explained that Iris had grown up in what everyone else thought was wrong- something called ‘slavery’. No matter how much Iris asked, Miss Valkyrie always answered. 

Slavery was wrong and illegal because it hurts people.

Illegal means against the law.

Laws are grown-up rules.

Yes, the men had been breaking the law by hurting her.

No, she shouldn’t have grown up like that.

No, she’d never have to go back with those men.

Iris was thankful for that explanation. 

Mr. Ren woke up as she was thinking, stretching. He saw the forlorn look on her face and became concerned- that kind of freaked her out, that people cared and weren’t angry when she was upset. “What’s wrong, Iris?” He asked, fussing with her blanket. 

Iris shook her head. “Nothing.”

That was a lie. But it was okay to lie if it kept people from worrying, right? 

Mr. Ren called her on it. “No, it’s not nothing. What is wrong?”

Iris furrowed her brows. “I didn’t realize I was raised so differently from everyone else.”

Mr. Ren nodded. “That’s alright. Nora had a similar moment when we were young. Finally got into combat school and we were given our first meal. We hadn’t eaten in days. Nora remarked that it would be enough to feed her for a month, and suddenly everyone was so worried over her. Life is a lot different for different people. You were raised with hard labor and being hurt for every little mistake. Most people in this city were raised care-free.”

Iris listened quietly, then nodded.

“So… I’ll learn about this all eventually. Right?”

Mr. Ren smiled at her and smoothed her blonde hair. “Yes, Iris. I promise you’ll get the childhood you missed out on.”

Iris almost wanted to cry from gratefulness.

**-**

Two more notable things happened in her first three days in the hospital- a tall woman with black-red hair and a shorter one with white hair to her mid-back visited. The shorter of the two introduced them as Weiss Schnee-Rose and Ruby Rose-Schnee. Miss Rose sat quickly became confused when Iris didn’t have anything to say about video games until Miss Valkyrie dragged them out and explained everything as she did to the nurse.

Miss Rose decided then and there she’d teach her all about video games, handing her Miss Schnee’s scroll and setting up her favorite fighting game.

“This button’s to attack, this one for punches, and if you do them in the right order, you’ll get a combo!” 

Iris lost a few rounds, but she found that all she could do was laugh and smile when Miss Rose beat her. It made her happy to have someone to play with. She didn’t realize Miss Schnee and Miss Valkyrie were watching until Mr. Ren came back with three coffees and a tea. Iris realized then that her cheeks hurt from grinning so much.

That was an odd sensation for her.

The second notable thing was more or less confusing for the 12-year-old. 

A woman with mint green hair and a man with steely gray visited late that night.

Sleepy in the man’s arms was a little girl with the same green hair and dark complexion as her mother, yet the grey- or were those silver? Eyes of the man- who she assumed to be the father.

For whatever reason, the girl immediately reached to be set down next to Iris.

“I’m Opal!” She cheerfully introduced.

“Iris…” Iris shook Opal’s hand.

Opal grinned and took that as permission to hug her.

Iris flinched at the close contact, which caused Opal to back away. “I’m so sorry if I scared you! I’m a little bad at self-control,” She explained, getting out her scroll. 

“Uh… no it’s okay, I just have an infection in my back… ‘n I’m not used to hugs yet.”

A determined look came over the young girl’s face. “Then it’s my mission to get you used to them!”

She stood up on Iris’s bed and put one hand on her hip, pointing the other in the meek blonde’s face. 

“Iris whatever-your-last-name-is, I’M gonna be your BEST FRIEND!”

Iris couldn’t help but smile at the girl with the green hair and silver eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Opal is actually my friend Voidcium's (Hi void!!) Emercury kid! I'm not sure if she actually /has/ silver eyes, but that's how it ended up going here.  
> Iris's RWBYVerse account: @temptestlotus  
> Opal's RWBYVerse account: @OfJadedRogues

**Author's Note:**

> Follow the RWBYVerse account for Iris on twitter, @tempestlotus!


End file.
